Brooks Koepka won his fifth major championship and third PGA Championship on May 21, 2023. Koepka, who joined the rival league LIV Golf Series in 2022, shot nine-under par in the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, finishing two strokes ahead of American Scottie Scheffler and Norwegian Viktor Hovland. Koepka, 33, is the first LIV Golf competitor to win a major championship.
Koepka carried a two-stroke lead into the final round of the 2023 Masters Tournament but struggled and eventually finished runner-up to Spaniard Jon Rahm. He led Hovland and Canadian Corey Conners by one stroke entering the final round of the PGA Championship and got off to a hot start, leading Hovland by four strokes after recording his third straight birdie on the fourth hole.
Hovland, who finished among the top seven players in each of the last two majors, was one stroke back of Koepka before a disastrous bunker shot on the 16th hole ultimately put him out of contention and gave Koepka a clear path to winning the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time in his career. Hovland double bogeyed the hole, while Koepka birdied it to take a four-stroke lead. Koepka tapped in a par at the 18th hole to secure the title.
After the tournament, Koepka expressed his excitement at winning another major tournament, especially having battled through injuries and inconsistent play over the last two years. Koepka was the most dominant golfer on the planet from 2017 to 2019, during which time he won both the US Open and PGA Championship twice and became the first-ever golfer to win their first four majors in a two-year period. He suffered a torn patella tendon in his left knee four years ago and, in 2021, dislocated his right knee. Koepka, a former world No. 1, dropped to No. 85 in the Official World Golf Ranking by March 2023.
With his victory at Oak Hill, Koepka is the 20th golfer to win at least five major championships and only the third golfer, along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, to win the PGA Championship at least three times in the stroke play era. He earned $3.15 million in prize money.
Hovland shot a two-under par 68 on Sunday, while Scheffler stormed up the leaderboard with a five-under par 65 to tie for the best round of the day. Hovland and Scheffler earned $1.54 million in prize money and 270 FedEx Cup points. Bryson DeChambeau, Kurt Kitayama, and Cam Davis tied for third at three-under par.
Koepka’s victory was almost overshadowed by the play of 46-year-old PGA club professional and golf instructor Michael Block. Playing in his fifth PGA Championship, Block shot a 1-over par to finish tied for 15th best, which was the best result for a club professional since 1986.
Block made an incredible 151-yard hole-in-one on the 15th hole, in which the ball went directly into the hole without bouncing, and had a par-saving putt on the 18th hole that earned him a guaranteed spot in the 2024 PGA Championship. Block won more than $250,000 in prize money.
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